1
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I to Joe: “You’re ten years dead,”
“I never died,” says he
“I never died,” says he
2
Them proper bastards shot you Joe,
They filled you full of lead.
“Takes more than guns to kill a man,”
Says Joe, lyin’ dead
Says Joe, lyin’ dead
3
Then standing there as large as life
And smilin’ with his eyes
Says Joe: “What they forgot to kill
Goes on to organize,
Goes on to organize.”
4
From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mill and mine,
Where workers strike and organize,
It’s there Joe Hill you’ll find,
It’s there Joe Hill you’ll find.
5
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I to Joe: “You’re ten years dead,”
“I never died,” says he
“I never died,” says he
Joe Hill claimed he was shot in an arguement over a woman, thought to be married. Accused of a murder, he was found guilty and shot by firing squad.
On January 10, 1914, John G. Morrison and his son Arling were killed in their Salt Lake City butcher store by two armed and masked intruders. Arling had drawn a handgun from behind the counter and wounded one of the masked men before being killed.
The prosecution produced a dozen eyewitnesses who said that the killer resembled Hill, including 13-year-old Merlin Morrison, the victim’s son and brother, who said “that’s not him at all” upon first seeing Hill.
But later he identified him as the murderer. The jury took just a few hours to find him guilty of murder.
Hill rose in the IWW organization (Industrial Workers of the World) and travelled widely, organizing workers under the IWW banner, writing political songs and satirical poems, and making speeches.
His songs frequently appropriated familiar melodies from songs of his time. He coined the phrase “pie in the sky”, which appeared in his song ‘The Preacher and the Slave’.
Other versions
“In Salt Lake, Joe,” says I to him,
Him standing by my bed,
“They framed you on a murder charge,”
Says Joe: “But I ain’t dead,”
Says Joe: “But I ain’t dead.”
His will, which was eventually set to music by Ethel Raim, read:
My will is easy to decide
For there is nothing to divide
My kin don't need to fuss and moan
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."
My body? - Oh. - If I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow
Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again
This is my Last and final Will
Good Luck to All of you
Joe Hill
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill, Philip S. Foner published a book, The Case of Joe Hill, concerning the trial and subsequent events, which concludes that the case was seriously miscarried.